Suicide: key data sources and useful links
From September 2023 statistics on probable suicides in Scotland will be published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) only. In previous years both NRS and Public Health Scotland (via the ScotPHO website) produced annual National Statistics publications on probable suicides, with both publications based on NRS data and published on the same day.
The latest available statistics on probable suicides in Scotland can be found here: Probable Suicides | National Records of Scotland (https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/). The publication, Probable Suicides 2022 (399Kb), was published by NRS on 5th September 2023. For further information about this data, please contact NRS by email at statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk.
Key data sources
- National Records of Scotland (NRS) compiles the official statistics on suicides (deaths caused by intentional self-harm and events of undetermined intent) in Scotland.
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the suicide data for England and Wales and the UK.
- The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) collects the suicide data for Northern Ireland.
- The Central Statistics Office Ireland compiles the suicide data for the Republic of Ireland.
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) compiles data on suicide in member countries.
Please note: When analysing suicide data different organisations use different conventions and definitions when calculating suicide rates. In particular, some analyses do not combine deaths by intentional self-harm with deaths of undetermined intent as is done in the statistics presented here. This distinction is particularly important when comparing data from different countries as differing legal arrangements and social / religious attitudes may lead to different proportions of likely suicides being assigned to these two groups.
Useful links
Public Health Scotland - Scottish Suicide Information Database (ScotSID).
Information on mental health in Scotland is available from the Mental health section of this website.
